---
title: He was not prepared for such a speech; he did not know what to say,… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was not prepared for such a speech; he did not know what to say, although he wanted to say something witty. Who acts: father. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, sentence 150

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He was not prepared for such a speech; he did not know what to say, although he wanted to say something witty.

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**Who acts:** father · **What happens:** not prepare, not know, say, want · **To what, where:** father, something · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg640:50:150
# text = He was not prepared for such a speech; he did not know what to say, although he wanted to say something witty.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	8	det:predet	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	obj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	obj	_	_
24	witty	witty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **prepare** | past · passive |  | father |  |  |  | for such speech | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Product for speech=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **want** | past | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | something |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent something=Topic |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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